Good as gold: Blues find redemption

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Jubilation: Blues five-eighth Shaun Timmins leaps with joy as his field goal sails over to win the match at Telstra Stadium last night. Photo: Brendan Esposito

NSW 9 Queensland 8

A five-eighth who was told twice he would never play again and a halfback who ignored a snapped medial ligament to play on earned rugby league a measure of redemption last night.

NSW five-eighth Shaun Timmins kicked a 40-metre field goal two minutes and 20 seconds into Origin's first-ever overtime period to give NSW a 9-8 win over Queensland at Telstra Stadium.

And as Timmins over-ruled St George Illawarra clubmate Ben Hornby to take the kick, halfback Craig Gower ruled himself out of calculations for the final one-pointer because he had snapped a medial ligament with 15 minutes left in regulation time, although he refused to come off.

Following a lead-up that included two NSW players being sacked over an obscene phone call and one Queensland player being subdued by police with capsicum spray, it was just the sort of on-field salvation the game's administrators had been praying for.

"Origin is about stepping up and doing things you're not famous for, stepping up and doing things people don't expect," said jubilant Blues coach Phil Gould after his side delighted most of the 68,344 fans on hand. "Craig Gower snapped his medial ligament with 15 minutes to go. We said, 'You've got to come off', and he said, 'No way'.

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"He wanted to stay out there and help get us home. He's probably not going to play again in this series, he's in the rooms now broken hearted."

Penrith's Gower will be out for four to six weeks; Timmins has a degenerative disease in his knees and was twice told by doctors in the past decade to consider an alternative career path.

He had only kicked one field goal in his career and refused to be considered as a back-up goal-kicker for NSW because he once missed a shot from in front.

"People play Origins under adversity but he plays under it week-in, week out," said Blues lock Craig Fitzgibbon. "His knees are shot to bits and he'll probably back up for the Dragons on Friday night and be one of the best players."

NSW's Willie Mason has been more vilified over the past week than any of the sacked players, Blues pair Mark Gasnier and Anthony Minichiello and Queensland winger Chris Walker. But the huge interchange forward could even have assumed the role of hero if he'd had a bit of luck.

It was Mason - booed by sections of the crowd last night - who jolted the ball loose from Queensland captain Shane Webcke's grasp with two minutes to go.

Gower got the ball 12 metres out and in front a few seconds later and, lining up the field goal, dropped it.

"If Gowy had popped the field goal, I'd probably be a hero," Mason said.

Fitzgibbon was making his own play for man-of-the-match honours as the game swung one way and then another, Queensland eventually outscoring the Blues two tries to one.

But he fell off a tackle on Scott Prince, Queensland's best player, in the 61st minute and the halfback lofted an overhead pass to centre Brent Tate, who scored the match-levelling try.

And then the Sydney Rooster failed with late penalty goal that could have spared the players from extra time.

While the excitement of overtime and the result sent most of the crowd home happy, the truth is that Origin I took about an hour to warm up.

It was 4-0 at half-time following Prince's 23rd-minute try from dummy-half and the Blues' response owed more to the raw strength of Timmins than to any great speed or sleight of hand.

Taking the ball one off the ruck six minutes into the second half, Timmins seemed to have been halted by Tonie Carroll and Prince half a metre short.

But somehow he managed to wrestle and spin and force the ball down, first on Prince's foot and then on the turf. Fitzgibbon converted and then added a penalty before Prince made the break for Queensland to draw level.

Debate over the merits of extra time in Origin were predictably split along state lines.

"If we won the series because it was drawn, it would be ridiculous," Gould said. "I've been involved in a drawn series and trust me, no one is happy."

But Webcke, who suffered a rib-cartilage injury and is unlikely to play for Brisbane against St George Illawarra tomorrow night, said: "It's perhaps an unsatisfactory way to end a great spectacle."

Rookie coach Michael Hagan agreed, saying: "You can probably live with a draw at Origin level but in the end you have to accept your fate."

Brisbane's Carroll also suffered a rib injury and Brent Tate got a dose of concussion.